Effect of school environment on dental students' perceptions of cultural competency curricula and preparedness to care for diverse populations.

Reports of oral health disparities among racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic sectors of the U.S. population have hastened development of strategies to address this issue.

Oral health findings for HIV-infected adult medical patients from the HIV Cost and Services Utilization Study.

Background: The HIV Cost and Services Utilization Study (HCSUS) was conducted by a consortium of private and government institutions centered at the RAND Corp. to provide national estimates of adult medical patients who are HIV-positive. This article presents descriptive oral health findings from that study.

Oral white patches in a national sample of medical HIV patients in the era of HAART.

Objectives: Several types of HIV-related oral mucosal conditions have been reported to occur during the course of HIV disease progression. Of these, few may be manifested as 'white' lesions and many are noticeable to the patient. This paper examines the relationships between social, behavioral and medical aspects of HIV infection and reporting an occurrence of oral white patches (OWP) by HIV-infected patients.

Pipeline, profession, and practice program: evaluating change in dental education.

This article describes the conceptual and analytical framework that will be used to assess the effectiveness of the Pipeline, Profession, and Practice: Community-Based Dental Education Program. The evaluation will use a mixed method qualitative and quantitative data collection, analysis, and triangulation. Baseline measures are reported using data from the 2003 ADEA survey of dental school seniors.

A longitudinal analysis of unmet need for oral treatment in a national sample of medical HIV patients.

This longitudinal study examines perceived unmet dental need in a nationally representative probability sample of HIV-infected persons in medical care. A logistic regression analysis modeled the relationship between unmet need and explanatory variables. We estimate that 40% of HIV/AIDS patients report an unmet need associated with being male, being unemployed, injecting drugs, being heterosexual, lacking dental insurance, and having less education.

Self-reported satisfaction of enrollees in capitated and fee-for-service dental benefit plans.

Background: This article examines the impact of capitated, or CAP, and fee-for-service, or FFS, dental benefit plans on the enrollees' satisfaction with their plans and their satisfaction with their dentists.

Methods: The authors selected four dental markets: California, New Jersey, Michigan and North Carolina. Eight Fortune 500 companies participated.

Pediatric dentists' participation in the California Medicaid program.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine pediatric dentists' participation in the California Medicaid program and investigate barriers to participation.

Methods: A 24-question mail-in survey with a follow-up was sent to all pediatric dentists in California with questions including demographics, Medicaid participation, and barriers to participation. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, chi-square tests, bivariate analysis, and multivariate logistic regression.

Identifying and responding to competing needs: a case study of a dental school-operated community dental clinic.

Dental schools face challenges and competing needs when they seek to initiate or expand their community dental programs. This article uses a dental school community clinic as a case study to frame the tensions between competing needs of educational requirements, access to dental care, financial viability, and service to the community that clinics must learn to manage if they are to be successful. The identification of competing needs provides community-oriented dental school clinics the ability to examine factors that come into play as communities and their environments change.